A keyboard with strum string apparatus for creating accurate guitar sounds with an electronic keyboard includes a microcontroller is coupled within a keyboard body. A power source, a pair of speakers, a plurality of control buttons, and a plurality of piano keys are coupled to the keyboard body and are in operational communication with the microcontroller. A plurality of piano keys is coupled to the keyboard body. A strum board is coupled to the keyboard body. The strum board has a strum base coupled to the keyboard body, a pair of bridges coupled to the strum base, a plurality of strings extending between the pair of bridges, and a pickup coupled to the strum base. The pickup is in operational communication with the microcontroller.

A keyboard with strum string apparatus for creating accurate guitar sounds with an electronic keyboard includes a microcontroller is coupled within a keyboard body. A power source, a pair of speakers, a plurality of control buttons, and a plurality of piano keys are coupled to the keyboard body and are in operational communication with the microcontroller. A plurality of piano keys is coupled to the keyboard body. A strum board is coupled to the keyboard body. The strum board has a strum base coupled to the keyboard body, a pair of bridges coupled to the strum base, a plurality of strings extending between the pair of bridges, and a pickup coupled to the strum base. The pickup is in operational communication with the microcontroller.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is an electric violin comprising a sound bar having a first tang and a second tang. The central portion of the sound bar rests on a top plate of the violin, separated by a separator pad, and the first and second tangs protrude to an inner cavity of the violin through a first and a second plate hole of the top plate. A pickup assembly includes a first and a second pickup, where each of the pickups comprise a bobbin made of two plates separated by a plurality of magnetic polepieces and surrounded by a coil wire. Each of the pickups includes a compression mechanism including a height adjustment screw that holds the compression mechanism at a firm tension while the distance between the plurality of the magnetic polepieces of the pickup and the corresponding tang satisfies a tolerance gap.

An electric musical instrument includes a body and a resonant stack. The resonant stack includes a bridge having a bridge mass and at least a first spring having a first spring constant, in which the first spring is positioned between the bridge and the body. The resonant stack has at least one resonant frequency that is dependent on the bridge mass and the first spring constant. The electric musical instrument includes a plurality of strings that extend across at least a portion of the body, in which each string has a vibrating length defined at least in part by the bridge. The electric musical instrument includes at least a first pickup device to detect vibrations of the strings and generate a first pickup signal, and at least a second pickup device to detect movements of the bridge and generate a second pickup signal.

Methods and devices for enabling authentication may include a first stage in which a first electronic device of the first entity communicates with a second electronic device of the second entity via a telecommunications network. During the first stage, the first electronic device generates a first token and transmits it from the first electronic device to the second electronic device via the network; and the second electronic device generates a third token and transmits the third token to the first electronic device via the network. During a second stage, authenticating a first non-authenticated entity as being the second entity as a function of a second token contained in a first portable electronic device of the first non-authenticated entity occurs; and authenticating a non-authenticated entity as being the first entity as a function of a fourth token contained in a second portable electronic device of the second non-authenticated entity also occurs.

A saddle assembly for a stringed musical instrument comprising a saddle footing having a body of any desired geometry and a surface curvature compatible with and conforming to the surface curvature of the soundboard of the stringed musical instrument upon which the body of the saddle footing is mounted with or without the use of a bridge plate, with the saddle footing adapted to accommodate either a conventional bridge or conventional saddle for elevating the strings in the stringed musical instrument relative to the soundboard or upon which a modified bridge or modified saddle is mounted having a geometry which conforms in geometry and curvature to the geometry and curvature of the elongated slot in the saddle footing.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is an electric violin comprising a sound bar having a first tang and a second tang. The central portion of the sound bar rests on a top plate of the violin, separated by a separator pad, and the first and second tangs protrude to an inner cavity of the violin through a first and a second plate hole of the top plate. A pickup assembly includes a first and a second pickup, where each of the pickups comprise a bobbin made of two plates separated by a plurality of magnetic polepieces and surrounded by a coil wire. Each of the pickups includes a compression mechanism including a height adjustment screw that holds the compression mechanism at a firm tension while the distance between the plurality of the magnetic polepieces of the pickup and the corresponding tang satisfies a tolerance gap.

A saddle assembly for a stringed musical instrument comprising a saddle footing having a body of any desired geometry and a surface curvature compatible with and conforming to the surface curvature of the soundboard of the stringed musical instrument upon which the body of the saddle footing is mounted with or without the use of a bridge plate, with the saddle footing adapted to accommodate either a conventional bridge or conventional saddle for elevating the strings in the stringed musical instrument relative to the soundboard or upon which a modified bridge or modified saddle is mounted having a geometry which conforms in geometry and curvature to the geometry and curvature of the elongated slot in the saddle footing.

A sound detection system of a musical instrument with vibrating parts includes at least a pair of sensors and a preamplification unit for processing the signal output from the two sensors along respective channels. At least one of the pair of sensors is a piezoelectric transducer and the other one of the pair of sensors is a different-type transducer. The preamplification unit includes, for each channel, an input stage, including an amplifier circuit and an equalization circuit, and an output stage including at least a weighted adder circuit and at least two volume controls with arbitrary logarithmic response curve. At least the input stage for the channel of the piezoelectric transducer is a charge amplifier circuit and at least one of the other input stages can be configured both as a charge amplifier and as non-inverting amplifier with high input impedance. The equalization circuit includes an RC circuit.

In a first aspect hereof the present invention provides an improved piezoelectric pickup which, generally, comprises a folded planar plastic piezoelectric sandwich electrically connected to a coaxial cable which, in turn, is in electrical communication with a jack or the like for connection to a pre-amp, an amplifier or the like. In a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a cell which is particularly adapted for use with an electric violin. The cell comprises a table which is disposed substantially parallel to the top of the instrument and substantially normal or perpendicular to and in contact with the bridge of the instrument. When used in conjunction with a pickup the cell facilitates simulation of the sound of an acoustic violin.